Follow the Dawn by Rachelle Rea Cobb

Author:Rachelle Rea Cobb [Cobb, Rachelle Rea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: IlluminateYA
Published: 2020-02-06T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

TUDDER

My hand waited for her to grasp it as Titus circled the tower, illuminated by the sunlight streaming in through the windows on the far side of the library.

Anna pressed her lips together and looked up at me. Not trying to be coy, never that, but entirely unaware how young and naïve she looked. As if she had never accepted a man’s hand before. After hearing Cade tell of her tyrant of a father, mayhap she had never known a man to be kind.

Such a thought made me want to protect her from tasting a man’s cruelty ever again. Just when I was wondering if I needed to say something—though, really, what did one say to a woman who did not wish to speak?—she whispered, “I am sorry.”

My brows drew together. “For what?”

“I seem to have … I cannot rise.”

My hand lowered. “Why not?”

Titus flopped to his seat on the floor, staring in wonder at our afternoon’s creation. “This is the best tower we have ever made.”

My heart warmed. ’Twas the first tower my son and I had crafted together, and we had done an admirable job. All of us. I looked at Anna again, her dimpled smile revealing the same pride spilling from my soul.

I was winning him back. Nay. I shook my head at that, for it sounded as if I had schemed to earn my son’s affection. In a way, I had, but only because I was his father. He was my boy.

For the past hour, he had trusted me with the design of his block tower, even though at first his trust resulted in extra effort, in expenditure of his precious blocks without immediate visible return. He was a boy of good character, one who would be a hardworking man, capable of patience and allegiance to his duties.

Pride swelled. Then my gaze fell to Anna again. “Why can you not rise?”

“My … limbs have gone numb.” A blush suffused her cheeks.

I felt myself redden, also. Well. “Shall we try? Give them the chance to awaken again?” I did not wish to push, to demand, to be yet another man in her life who merely wielded power over her without kindness, as I suspected her father was wont to do.

She pulled in a breath and shifted slightly, so I extended my hand again. When she took it, the immediate spark of warmth dried my mouth. Then she leaned forward and unfolded herself. I looked away from the small tip of a slipper disappearing beneath the hem of her skirt. Shakily, she stood. She stretched to her full height and crumpled again.

I caught her—just as the library door opened.

Ian’s wide eyes flicked between Anna and me before settling on me with a look of confusion. I put Anna from me but held tight to her elbows lest she fall. She grasped my forearms for balance but pinned her eyes somewhere on the floor at our feet.

“Look, Ian!” Titus called. “Look at the tower we made!”

Ian’s glance at the tower gave me time to whisper to Anna, “Steady?”

She nodded.

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